Abstract
The roles of door trim itself in terms of injury assessment on a side impact were studied. The
main objective of this study is to obtain the design guidelines for door trim impact energy
absorptions by a simple component level impact test. Compared with the full scale side
impact test and simulation, target performances of the door trim were evaluated. Also, the
relationship between the target absorption energy and impactor speed were examined using
the energy absorbed by the door trim. Each different vehicle door trim required different
energy levels.
A simple impact test method was developed to estimate abdominal injury by measuring
reaction force of the impactor. The reaction force will be converted to a certain level of the
energy by the proposed formula. The target of absorption energy for door trim only and the
impact speed of simple impactor are derived theoretically based on the conservation of energy.
When the door trim contact to the abdomen, internal energy and kinetic energy in the
abdomen were stored both by the energy of intruding door. While dummy is pushed away
from door, the abdomen forces became to zero and the shape of abdomen was elastically
recovered. At this moment, the abdomen has only kinetic energy which makes dummy pushed
away continuously. With calculated speed 0f dummy and the effective mass of abdomen, the
energy allocated in the abdomen area of door trim was calculated. The impactor speed can be
calculated based on the equivalent energy of door trim absorbed during the full crash test.
In conclusion, with theoretical considerations and empirical test data, the main objective,
standardization of door trim design using the simple impact test method was established.
Keywords: Side impact, Abdomen, Euro-SID dummy, Impactor, Sled test, Target absorbing impact
energy, Rule of energy conservation
Keywords: Side impact, Abdomen, Euro-SID dummy, Impactor, Sled test, Target absorbing impact
energy, Rule of energy conservation